Back to all build orders
Age-up click · 18 → Knights pop · 17 villagers

Khmer 18-pop Fast Scouts → Knights

13 stepsSignature strategyKhmer
Video guide · St4rk Age of EmpiresBuild Orders - Khmer Pop 18 Scouts into Knights
Notes from St4rk
The Khmer skip prerequisites

No Barracks is required before the Stable and no Feudal eco building is required before Castle Age. That is what makes the 18-pop opening and direct Knight transition possible.

Four early Scouts, eight if the window stays open

The first four arrive before 11:00. Continue toward eight only while damage remains realistic; otherwise bank food for Castle Age.

Execution

Build timeline

The first row shows new villagers, transfers and task assignments; the figures below are the totals after the step.

Dark Age
1

Place the first 6 villagers on sheep; the Khmer opening deliberately delays the Lumber Camp

Start+6
60600
2

Build a Mill and establish 4 villagers on berries while the remaining villagers stay on sheep and boar

New+4
1001000
3

Lure both boars and keep almost every new villager on food until the click; this version does not require deer

4

Send the final 2 Dark Age villagers to wood and click Feudal at 18 population

New+2+5
1721500
Transition to Feudal
5

During the transition, move villagers aggressively to wood until 9 are chopping and leave about 5 finishing food under the Town Center

Transfer7Task3Task
179500
Feudal Age
6

Build the delayed Lumber Camp, then use 2–3 villagers to place the Stable immediately on reaching Feudal

179500
7

Research Double-Bit Axe and produce the first 4 Scouts continuously; the group should reach the opponent before 11:00

New+1+2
1710700
8

Research Horse Collar after the first Scout queue, then seed farms continuously while maintaining roughly 10 on wood

1710700
9

Continue toward 8 Scouts only if they can still raid or win map control; use houses to protect the key resources

10

When berries expire, send 4 foragers to gold and turn the rest of the food economy into farms

New+5+4
26101240
11

Grow toward 18–20 farms, research Wheelbarrow around 16–17 farms, and take Bloodlines when the Scouts will keep fighting

New+8
34102040
12

Click Castle Age directly—Khmer need no Blacksmith or Market—then add a second Stable during the transition

Castle Age
13

On reaching Castle Age, upgrade Light Cavalry if the Scouts survived and produce Knights from 2 Stables; add Town Centers only after military production is secure

Treat the order as a stable economic backbone, not a script that overrides scouting. Idle resources, map generation and the opponent's opening should change the transition.